This invention relates generally to devices that support and hold equipment and more particularly to a coupler for a mount system for holding handheld electrical devices.
Handheld electrical devices, such as handheld computers (e.g., data collectors, PDAS, Blackberrys™) and cellular phones, are widely used and have many applications. For example, many land surveyors use handheld electrical data collectors to record and store field measurements, perform calculations, verify data accuracy, and even generate plots. Data collectors equipped for surveying can be connected directly to surveying equipment (e.g., a total station) for recording data and then to a PC or notebook computer for transferring the data from the data collector. Thus, data collectors allow surveyors to quickly, easily, and accurately collect surveying data and transfer it to a PC or notebook computer.
During a survey of land, the data collector is commonly supported by a holder mounted to a surveying pole or tripod. One difficulty with mounting the holder directly to the surveying pole or tripod is that surveying implements, once positioned to collect survey data, often cannot be disturbed without compromising the accuracy of the survey. As a result, the surveyor needs to exercise care when using the data collector not to disturb the positioning of the pole or tripod.
Conventional holders typically include a support for supporting the data collector, and a clamp for clamping the support to surveying pole or tripod. In some cases, the support is merely a rest without any positive connection between the support and the data collector. This allows the data collector to be placed into and removed from the holder with minimum effort and minimum potential for disturbing the placement of the surveying pole or tripod. This is helpful, for example, when the surveyor is manually entering surveying data or descriptions of surveyed locations. Since there is no positive connection between the support and the data collector, the device must be removed from the support before moving the pole or tripod otherwise the data collector will fall from the support and be damaged. Requiring the data collector to be carried separately is highly inconvenient for surveyors who may work in remote locations and manually transport their equipment.
In other cases, the support does positively connect to the data collector to securely hold the data collector in the support. While this arrangement prevents the data collector from falling from the support, it is difficult to manually enter survey data or descriptions of surveyed locations since the data collector cannot be simply picked up off the support. Moreover, the act of connecting the data collector to the support typically requires discontinuous motion, such as turning a screw knob, which may result in undesired vibration or movement of the tripod or pole thereby compromising accuracy of the survey.
In addition, the angle at which the support holds the data collector greatly affects the ability of the data collector to be used or viewed. Factors such as the height of the pole (or tripod), the location on the pole where the data collector is clamped, the height of the surveyor, and the angle of the sun all affect the ease of use and visibility of the data collector. Accordingly, some prior art holders allow the surveyor to adjust the angle at which the data collector is supported. To do so, however, the connection between the prior art supports and clamps needs to be released or loosened, the support adjusted to the desired angle, and the connection between the support and clamp reestablished. Thus, this is a somewhat time consuming process that requires two hands and could easily result in the undesired movement of the pole or tripod.
Conventional holders are also made for either right-handed users or left-handed users. In other words, the holder will retain the data collector in an upright, forward facing position only when projecting to one side of the pole or tripod (from the vantage of a person facing the pole or tripod). As a result, left-handed surveyors typically have to reach across their bodies to manipulate the data collector. This is particularly inconvenient when they must simultaneously hold the pole.
Moreover, conventional clamps of the holders resemble C-clamps with a coupling for connecting the support thereto. These types of clamping devices have a screw with a screw knob for tightening and loosening a jaw of the clamp. The jaw and anvil of the clamp may make only point or line contact with the pole or tripod. The small area of contact requires the jaw to press hard against the pole to secure the holder in place. Another adverse effect of the small area of contact is that the clamp is still unstable. Moreover, the screw and screw knob arrangement is prone to overtightening. Thus, this arrangement can cause irreparable damage to poles or tripods by repeated tightening (or overtightening) of the clamp to the same position on the pole.